PORTLAND, Ore. ― Portland State University faculty voted to authorize their union leaders to call a strike, the union said Thursday.
The vote does not guarantee the first professorial strike in the history of the Oregon University System, but it was a required move for one to occur as early as April 3.
Full-time faculty members cast their ballots Tuesday and Wednesday. The union said 94 percent voted to strike if an agreement on a new contract can’t be reached.
Talks between the school administration and the PSU chapter of the American Association of University Professors have lasted about a year, and the sides have made what are described as final offers. The difficult negotiations come amid budget trouble at Portland State, where administrators are trying to erase what had been a projected $15 million budget deficit for 2014-15.
Wages are a major issue, as are job stability and how much voice professors have in university decisions. Oregon University System figures show Portland State employs basically the same number of part-time faculty as full-time faculty, the only of the seven public universities in which that is the case. The union also says students are increasingly being taught by professors on one-year contracts.
“These kinds of conversations about ‘is there money or is there not?’ don’t really apply to a significant portion of what we’re asking for and what we feel like is essential to provide for the kind of quality education we’re committed to,” said David Osborn, a PSU instructor and union spokesman.
Portland State officials said in a statement that the parties will work “diligently” to avoid a strike. They said spring term will open on schedule March 31, and procedures are in place to maintain operations if there’s a walkout.
